Miura Waffle Milk Bar new location launch

Miura Waffle + Milk Bar has just moved to its new Main & Broadway digs and they kindly hosted a pre-launch tasting event for the folks who had written about them in the past.  Wendy reviewed the old downtown location a while back, so we got an invite and figured this time I could give a second opinion on the place.  We got to sample literally every food item on the menu plus a few new drinks!

The newly reno’d interior was clean and sported bar and table seating with a view of the kitchen in the back.  Now for a word about the “yoggys” and “sandos” on offer here: this ain’t your momma’s waffle shack.  Miura’s motto is “NO FORK & KNIFE, NO SYRUP”.  They make waffle sandwiches here, both savoury and sweet, and sando is short for sandowicchi (the Japanese pronunciation of sandwich), and are meant to be eaten with your hands.  Yoggys are yogurt-y milk drinks which are slightly thicker and tangier than regular milk.

First we tried some items from the Miura Shake menu.  These are all new items launched with the location change.  Clockwise from top left are the G8, Corny, and two Cara-Misos.  The G8 (stands for 8-grain) is the health-conscious one of the group with a blend of red, green, and mung beans, brown and black rice, and wheat berries plus a couple more we forgot.  It definitely tastes healthy with a kind of rice-y malt flavour.  If you can imagine a drink version of Sugar Crisp cereal you’ve hit the nail on the head.  The Corny is sweet corn with vanilla ice cream, and the Cara-Miso is Miura’s fusion take on classic salted caramel treats, but they combine their house-made caramel sauce with red miso (?!) for the salted portion.  Trust us, it tastes like HEAVEN and was the star player here.  These were sample sizes with the standard 16 oz. versions going for $6.49.

Coconama

We’ve known of Coconama in Richmond for quite some time, and have had a few sample before, but never took the plunge to get anything. This time was different. I’m sure the fact that samples were tirelessly handed out helped a lot too. Among the flavors we sampled were Blueberry, Lemon Basil, Coffee, and Earl Grey. But most of all we were very intrigued by the pre-packaged cup ($5) that was aptly named “Coconama Salad”.

Arashiyama 嵐山

One of our excursion during out time in Kyoto was to the district of Arashiyama 嵐山.  It was a touristy, extremely picturesque destination with a lovely river running between two small mountains.  A bridge connects the two sides.

A semi-hidden attraction is the natural bamboo forest.  For L and I it took a little bit to find, but along the way you get to walk around the little town and try bits and pieces of food.  Particularily I tried the black soy soft serve ice cream.  It was indeed very fragrant of soy bean and was definitely one of the more interesting items I ate on this trip.

As for the bamboo forest, it was very serene and awe-inspiring.  Although not very big, the tall shoots provided enough cover to fully immerse you into the ambiance.  Too bad you weren’t allowed to actually walk through the forest though.

Miura Waffle Milk Bar

When S saw my Facebook album of the foods I ate in Japan, she was especially intrigued by the waffles over there.  So apparently she feverishly googled for a local source of Japanese-style waffle.  Miura Waffle Milk Bar was what she found.

It’s located near Yaletown but I thought it’s quite inconspicuous, so make sure you look out for it.  Small, quaint little cafe and the owners (?) were very friendly.

Guu with Garlic

Oh Guu~~ I always have such a good time at your place!  What’s your secret?

For this particular visit, I’m sure the culprit must be the pitcher of Aloe Vera Mojito ($16.5) shared among two girls.  Yep.  That must be it.

This was refreshing.  I liked chewing on the mint leaves but there really aren’t that much aloe vera bits.  Also, despite downing the whole pitcher, we didn’t really get that drunk, which means there really wasn’t that much booze in it.  We did still manage to get a decent light buzz though.

I’m addicted to avocados lately so anything with that in it catches my attention.  I picked this Prawns & Avocado Wasabi mayo Tartar ($6.80) because of that.

It was a light, refreshing dish.  The prawns were actually cooked which surprised me as I was expecting sashimi-style like how a tuna/beef/salmon tartar would’ve been.  The fact that it’s cooked prawns and contributes to the fact that it yields little prawn taste to this.  It was more avocado than anything.

The wasabi aspect was detectable but not overwhelmingly-so, which was fine my me.  This tasted awesome when eaten atop the supplied prawn chips…but now that I think about it…it’s probably because the prawn chips had more flavor than the main attraction.

We knew from the get-go we wanted deep-fried prawn heads, so we ordered the Amaebi sashimi ($6.80).